The second National Rugby League Auckland Nines tournament will be held on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, according to Steve Deane of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. The two-day format "featuring all 16 NRL clubs" has been retained. The "only major change sees squad sizes increased from 16 to 18 players to reduce the demand on players." A prize pool of more than NZ$2.6M ($2.2M) will "again be up for grabs." The inaugural tournament this year, "won by the North Queensland Cowboys, was played in front of a crowd of nearly 90,000 over the two days." A post-event independent evaluation of the '14 event found that this year's tournament "expanded Auckland's GDP" by NZ$9.35M, of which NZ$3.24M came into the New Zealand economy from offshore (NZ HERALD, 8/5).